Jamaica College Building on Old Hope Road taken on Saturday, November 26, 2005. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

As we head into the new school term, the move by Jamaica College to offer an Aviation Programme as part of its curriculum is a remarkable one. This is indeed a demonstration of its administrators thinking creatively and acting deliberately in these challenging times to provide guidance to young men in Jamaica.

As I sat and listened to the news I beamed from ear to ear and excitedly called my husband, a pilot at heart who nightly boots up the computer and flies out of Norman Manley or the Donald Sangster International airports to a destination of choice, using his Flight Simulator 10. What an excellent opportunity has been created for our young people via this positive move! An opportunity once only available if you joined the Jamaica Defence Force, had the resources to do classes by the Tinson Pen Aerodrome or to go overseas.

seize the opportunity

This new offering at Jamaica College will be available for access by fourth to sixth formers of that institution, and other students external to the institution may join at the sixth-form level. My advice to all young Jamaicans is to seize the opportunity being made available to you.

Other institutions should also strive to find innovative ways to strengthen the country's young minds positively. This move by the administrators of Jamaica College demonstrates our abilities as Jamaican educators to look within ourselves and create ways to push our institutions and country forward.

A ray of hope for us all!